Invisible Man

The Invisible Man is a novel by Ralph Ellison, the original Invisible Man, which appeared in 1952. The book was awarded the following year the National Book Award and has since been regarded as one of the most important American novels of the postwar period.

Ellison published short stories and essays, two more novels remained unfinished. They were published posthumously. In German translation The Invisible Man was published in 1954 under the title Invisible by Fischer, 1984 March and since 1987 as The Invisible Man by Rowohlt -Verlag, there also the novel Juneteenth and the short story collection Flying Home.

Content

Main character and narrator in The Invisible Man is a nameless constant man who considers himself invisible. This invisibility is not a physical but a social invisibility: As Black he is not perceived by his fellow men in postwar America. The story is told in retrospect. The narrator sits in a country occupied by him underground cellar room of a pure white rented building, which he has stocked with 1369 bulbs, which are operated with black angezapftem current. From this brightest spot in all of New York from the life of the narrator is illuminated, from his school days.

As a student he must one day Mr. Norton, chauffeured the white rich philanthropists of the College, a director, scientist and banker. After terrible incidents during this day that (which is similar to the Tuskegee Institute, the Ellison has visited itself) the reputation of the school have wronged in the eyes of the headmaster Dr. Bledsoe, the protagonist of the scholarship will be withdrawn while it is assured at the same time that we 'll take care of him. He receives letters of recommendation to find a job in New York, with which he could earn the money for the next semester. However, he is unsuccessful in finding a job and have to say that Dr. Bledsoe has the company strongly advised him not einzuzustellen.

The narrator begins to work in a paint factory, which is known for its white color. But his boss fears competition and gets rid of the narrator in that it brings him to bring a part of the heating, for which they are responsible, to explode. The protagonist is rushed to the hospital, where they treated him with electric shocks. As an unemployed person he meets in Harlem to a speaker who is fascinated by the masses, and when he, himself a gifted speaker who attends a house clearance, he ventured a try and actually manages to inspire the masses.

This finds Jack, a representative of the Brotherhood (actually the CPUSA ), and recruits him as a member. He even gets a leading role in Harlem, however, comes into conflict with the party ideas and eventually abandoned by the grouping completely down.

His adversary was, when he was speaker for the communist organization, the black nationalist Ras the warning voice (actually Marcus Garvey ), which called for the violent uprising against the white oppressors.

Shortly after the narrator is no longer working for the party, it comes to violent unrest, in which the narrator almost lost his life comes, but takes refuge in a hole where he has since lived and told his story.

The protagonist of the novel concludes that he might soon come to light, and emphasizes that his story in a similar form could be that of any other humans and zutreffe the fate of invisibility not only on him.

Invisibility

The unnamed narrator describes himself as an " invisible ", which both the discrimination he experienced as African- Americans are concerned, as well as the problem of identity.

He tried in various ways to find their way in society, but he is always influenced by the people who surround him, which confused him, and ultimately to bring to withdraw from society and the reader to tell his story.

Reception and criticism

The incumbent and equal space Ellison and his novel in American literary scene of the 20th century in literary criticism is undisputed .. However, there are, as Franz Becker in his analysis of the reception history of the book provides a detailed description, divergent directions of Ellison criticism in the interpretation of basic statement of the novel.

While a number of critics considered the work as an expression of a common human fate or a fundamental human predicament and Ellison in the " mainstream" of American and beyond Western culture sees rooted, lined up another part of the critic 's work in the tradition of black protest novel one, in the special social plight of African- Americans in the United States addressed will of the 20th century as well as their experience of discrimination and oppression. In this direction, the criticism, however, partly the alleged lack of protest alleging the protagonist in the novel, which vacillate between conformism and non-conformism, but ultimately abfinde with his situation and not try to change it ..

Finally, also the one with the " invisibility " close-knit central theme of identity in the novel is interpreted differently, namely as a search for an existential, political and social, racial- cultural or artistic identity ..